Lansing garage band finds following at Granada gig

Lawrence  When Lansing punk rock band My Last Day took to the stage Saturday night at The Granada, it brought with it a high-energy show, some loyal fans and a surprise twist.

The show - a 25-minute effort that proved to be one of the most well-received performances of the day - garnered a collective roar from the fans who stuck around until the end of Saturday's 14 hours of music. Among those in the crowd were about 30 students from Lansing who packed the pit in front of the stage and sang along with every song.

"I wish a few more people had stuck around to hear us," said Ryan Shea, bassist for My Last Day, citing the fact that some concertgoers left early during what he considered a series of mediocre "screamo" bands. "I think it went really well. We played for our typical crowd, which is always really great, and hopefully we picked up a few new fans, too."

The band's regular fans were used to seeing Shea, Andy Armstrong, Jeff Goodlin, Brandon Rimmey and Alaina Romine on stage, but were surprised when another familiar face joined the band on the stage for the last of its five songs.

Before the final song began, Romine - playing just her fourth show with My Last Day - asked for Elena Stephenson to join her on stage. Stephenson was the band's former lead singer, and had flown back from Texas to watch the show.

"I had no idea that was going to happen," said a smiling Stephenson after the show. "I'm so glad I came back."

The Battle of the Bands spanned two days, with a roster of about 50 bands. Only the top two were deemed winners by a panel of judges. My Last Day wasn't among those two, but Rimmey said the band wasn't discouraged by the final results. Instead, he said he thought it was the beginning of better times for My Last Day.

"I'm just happy we got to play. Now we can say we played The Granada," Rimmey said. "Hopefully we'll be back here sooner than later."